Episode 31: Batman: The Killing Joke

This week on View from the Gutters, our topic work is Batman: The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Released as a one-shot in 1988, The Killing Joke is a classic Batman story which defined the character of The Joker in the post-Crisis DC Universe, and had resounding effects on the Batman family of characters.

The Killing Joke has remained a topic of much debate, even 25 years after its release, and it stands as one of the critical works for anyone interested in the history of superhero comics broadly, the DC universe generally, and Batman specifically. It is also the “origin”, in a sense, for the character of Oracle.

In our recommendation section our hosts nominated Powerless, Godland, The Adventures of Barry Ween: Boy Genius, and Spider-Man: Blue for discussion on the next episode, and our selected title is Godland.